SkyKeepers

Skykeepers Review (Xbox One)

Dive into a magical story that will bring life back to a powerful village. In SkyKeepers, the player will battle with a fair amount of attack combos and items against the most despicable enemies. This challenge will not only restore to the honor of the village people but also improve your hero's combat skills.

INTRODUCTION

SkyKeepers brings a very engaging 2D experience and is produced by the indie developer Sword Twin Studios. The game combines the quality of great mechanics within a meaningful story that catches the player’s attention throughout the entire journey of its characters.

Think about going on a journey to recover the strength of the SkyKeeperVillage by completing trials of a storyline full of action and adventure. Combats as fast-paced and allow the player to choose from interesting fighting skills and will develop as you continue to grow as a character. There is a very close relationship between the interaction with the village improvements and how you can advance your performance in the game.

The game is based on the oceanic Austronesian culture, which represents a particular community from Southeast Asia and Oceania. The Austronesian people are known for having a very rich history passed through generations and maintaining a strong bond between individuals and their culture.

SkyKeepers s has an amazing story on its own and allows players to be part of a great adventure filled with heroes and powerful fighting moves. Considering that SkyKeepers has been inspired from a very distinctive cultural background, the game has a nice variety of elements that make it look great and also fun to play.

SkyKeepers was developed by Sword Twin Studios and will be available to purchase on Xbox One on March 31st.

STORY

One of the most attractive elements of this title is the richness of the storyline. As the game tutorial is being completed, you will be introduced to some of the main characters, part of the SkyKeepers Village. However, for the most part, you will be playing as the chief Tangi, whose courage inspire an entire community to grow stronger after a major traumatic event. As a result of this devastating experience, they count on Tangi to accomplish some if the main trials to recover the village back to what it once was.

Some of the moments are dramatic and sad, but others can be pretty funny and entertaining. One of the most interesting facts about the story of SkyKeepers is the message of never giving up on your goals. In other words, in the beginning of the game, Tangi goes through a very disturbing event that changes his destiny. However, after a long one-year period, he stands back and regains the necessary confidence to become stronger.

When playing as the chief, you will join a series of combats against strong enemies. Defeating one by one will give you enough experience to improve fighting abilities that become more and more necessary as the game progresses. For example, Tangi proves to be a fierce hero by delivering powerful attacks that include mid-air combos, teleport moves, and unique fighting styles. As you reach the end of each stage, Tangi collects the required materials necessary to improve the village’s organization and fix some of the damages in the community.

The storyline is simple, but also very expressive. Dialogues can become a little extensive at some points of the game, and are presented only with subtitles and music on the background. Because of that, adding a few moments of actual audio conversation could improve the narrative elements of the story and make it even more interesting.

GAMEPLAY

When it is time to complete trials and advance on the adventure, Tangi will find himself in a colorful and vibrant 2D environment. Each stage has different passages that are connected to the main structure. You can complete the level by moving to any part of the screen that has a passage available. The fact that these passages are all tied to each other allows you to come back to collect items left behind or to try a different strategy to achieve your goals.

Completing tasks are not the only things you need to worry about in SkyKeepers. There is more than simply going into the main stages and completing tasks. The main menu gives the player the chance to check the “Village session”, where characters continue the story narrative, craft items and also buy content that can help you hero on his journey.

As you move along, the level of battles improve, along with the number of enemies that appear to challenge your character. Each stage contains a certain amount of enemies that will magically show up and try to stop you from completing your objectives. Once a battle begins, you are not able to go back through any passages until defeating all foes. As expected, you start facing a few very easy-to-defeat characters. Eventually, they start partnering up with more powerful demons that have unique abilities. Usually, there is nothing really threatening to worry about, since you count with the best assortment of abilities to tackle, dodge and succeed in fights. In addition, it is a really good idea to understand how each enemy behaves and what kind of moves they use in battle.

One of my favorite fighting skills is the “Spirit Walk” ability, which allows you to quickly move towards an enemy while landing a powerful attack. Tangi is not only able to use his powers against enemies, but also has a couple of defense abilities that help dodging or blocking attacks. This is very a very helpful skill to have when you find yourself surrounded by multiple opponents fighting you at the same time. Even though managing the best fighting strategy can be a little tricky at times, you always have the opportunity to become more powerful, as the village is rebuilt.

In general, SkyKeepers is very fun and engaging. The fact that it combines a great storyline with a good array of combat moves, makes the player’s experience always exciting. The gameplay has a nice level of difficulty, which keeps the player eager to keep going until the end.

On the other hand, there are eventual issues with the slow response to commands. This is a very smooth detail that might pass unnoticeable during the gameplay. The good news here is that once you get used to the controls, you will know exactly what to expect from each attack and defense skills.

GRAPHICS AND AUDIO

Most of the graphic characteristics in SkyKeepers reflect the nice quality of an action/adventure 2D platform. The village is surrounded by magic and fantasy, which allows the visual details to have a sharply designed art concept that attracts the player from the very beginning. Movements are very fluid and run really well despite the minimum delays that are rarely noticeable. During the moments that the story progresses, characters engage in dialogues with no animations, which is not bad considering the great quality of the images. The overall style of the game art is very pleasant to see, and the characters design is very creative and aligned with the concept of the main story.

Music is always a very impactful characteristic in a game. As mentioned before, SkyKeepers has a very rich story based on the Austronesian culture. Because of that, my expectations were very high in terms of audio quality. The good news is that the game does not disappoint and deliver a very charming and distinctive style for a unique experience. The audio selection is really fun to listen to as you use abilities, engage in the main story and move on to the next stages. Both music and sounds have a tribal characteristics that goes really well with the flow of the gameplay.

CONCLUSION

SkyKeepers does an excellent job bringing artistic elements into a vibrant and emotional journey. Through great mechanics and a meaningful story, the game emphasizes on the message of overcoming fears and developing strong bonds among characters to restore their village.

If action genres are part of your preferences in gaming, SkyKeepers is definitely a great 2D choice to spend time on. Having the element of a strong culture background adds value to the features of the gameplay and makes characters look unique and special. The art details are very well-made and blend nicely with the background of the stages environment.

The game also brings a nice set of levels that gradually improve difficulty without losing the fun of battles. In addition, SkyKeepers’ fighting features are one of my favorite characteristics of Tangi’s journey, as I was constantly learning more efficient ways to use combos and defeat enemies.

PROS

CONS

+ Gameplay is fun and flows well with the story

– Eventual slow response to commands

+ Great characters’ design

– No voices during story mode

+ Colorful and vibrant graphics

– Similar structure on all stages

+ Engaging and powerful message

6.5

Fair

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